Does my Rolleiflex 2.8f have light leaks, or something else?

chioque · Jul 14, 2010

I hope you guys here can offer some insights into my problem here.

I have been shooting my 2.8f for a very long time and this never occurs. The last time I used the camera before recently in early June, all negatives didn't have this problem. Last weekend I brought out the camera and shot a few rolls and once again yesterday, to check on the problem.

On all my recent negatives, I have this faint light line, may be 2 or 3 mm across, on the very left side at the edge of each frame, where you normally have the type of film name printed. When scanned, the area becomes darker (as positive) than the area around it. I have the negative side of a frame of my latest roll attached here.

Could it be light leaks. But I'm not too sure as, IMHO, normally light leaks would make the negative darker (at the spot) and scan would show white at the area.

Any idea? Could it be my development tank? But a roll I process taken by my Contax using the same tank doesn't have any problem.

Hopefully you guys can point me in right direction.

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2010

Agitation => Too much or too little. A light seal would print light or white.

Steve

Andrew K · Jul 14, 2010

Or not enough chemistry in the tank?

What sort of tank are you using, and how do you process your films (agitation etc?)

Also check the rollers - the tape from the backing papaer sometimes builds up as a bit of gunk on them - the pressure from the rollers can cause wierd marks on the film (I know - I wouldn't have believed it either - but it's one of the wierd things I saw when I was a camera technician)

Shawn Dougherty · Jul 14, 2010

Is your developing reel slightly bent, causing the film to be skewed? Or just a bad load job? What kind of reels are you using? Leave photo flow on the reel? That can inhibit development...

If it's a clearer (thinner) area on the film that's would be the opposite from a light leak. How about posting a scan showing the problem and the rest of the film area. Need some more info.

All the best. Shawn

chioque · Jul 15, 2010

I am using plastic reel in Paterson tank. BTW, the thin line is NOT on the clear part of the negative but on the image part itself of the frame. For development, I normally use 500ml of developer and my agitation normally 1st one minute constant agitation with 4 agitations every minute thereafter.

AT the moment I'm in the office and the negatives are at home. I will do a scan of a whole frame, the negative as well the positive soonest I get home tonight. And appreciate the suggestions so far. Hopefully it's just my development errors and not the camera itself. I'm more leaning towards my own error as the camera was working fine only a month ago, and was serviced by Bill Maxwell less than 2 years ago as well.

Shawn Dougherty · Jul 15, 2010

chioque said:
I am using plastic reel in Paterson tank. BTW, the thin line is NOT on the clear part of the negative but on the image part itself of the frame. For development, I normally use 500ml of developer and my agitation normally 1st one minute constant agitation with 4 agitations every minute thereafter.

What were saying is that if the anomaly is LIGHTER (more clear) than the rest of the negative then it's not a light leak. A light leak would make a dark (dense) spot on the negative.

chioque · Jul 15, 2010

Shawn Dougherty said:
What were saying is that if the anomaly is LIGHTER (more clear) than the rest of the negative then it's not a light leak. A light leak would make a dark (dense) spot on the negative.

Shawn, hearing you loud and clear So light leak is definitely out... Phew. Now I'm leaning toward my mistake in development. That's why I gave my development method as requested by some. I will develop one more roll tonight and see if everything's fine if I increase the chemical to 600ml per one 120 roll.

Shawn Dougherty · Jul 15, 2010

Good luck, I know how frustrating this sort of thing can be... but I'm sure you'll figure it out.

All the best. Shawn

Willie Jan · Jul 15, 2010

I had these too in the past.
air in the reel could be a point. At start put the tank with a little force onto a towel to get air bubbles freed from the reel.

next point, do not use photo fly (as mentioned before) when the negs are in the reel. I had problems with them. Only after cleaning them with a tootbrush,towels,ear cleaners and some chemicals, i got rid of the chemicals. I now remove the 120 film from the reel and put it into the photofly afterwards.

I hope you can do something with this info.

Andrew K · Jul 16, 2010

From memory you are supposed to use 560ml of developer with Patterson tanks - I used 600ml when I used to use them

Could it be a development issue?

Rick A · Jul 16, 2010

Looks as though you didn't have enough solution for proper development. My plastic tanks list 550 -600ml for fluids while my SS tank only uses 500ml. I always add just a tad extra solution when developing to avoid these issues.

chioque · Jul 16, 2010

Andrew... yup that's where I made the error. My last three rolls I used 500ml although I used 600ml previously. I have since developed 3 more rolls and none of them have this problem. So I am quite certain the problem stems from this miscalculations on my part.

Josh Harmon · Jul 16, 2010

My Omega Tank which I use with Patterson reels needs at least 550ml and the Patterson Tanks I use at school need even more, I play it safe and use 20oz (590ml) of developer.

I also once had a problem where I developed a roll of 35mm and one side stuck to the plastic spiral part and the sprockets didnt get developed.

-Josh

Shawn Dougherty · Jul 16, 2010

chioque said:
Andrew... yup that's where I made the error. My last three rolls I used 500ml although I used 600ml previously. I have since developed 3 more rolls and none of them have this problem. So I am quite certain the problem stems from this miscalculations on my part.

Alright! Glad you figured it out so quickly.

Shawn

Does my Rolleiflex 2.8f have light leaks, or something else?

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